1911 in film

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Years in film
19th century
1870s
1880s 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889
1890s 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899
1900s 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909
1910s 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919
1920s 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929
1930s 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939
1940s 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
1950s 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1960s 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970s 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980s 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990s 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000s 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010s 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2020s 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 …
v t e

The year 1911 in film involved some significant events.

• February: The Motion Picture Story Magazine, the first American film fan magazine, is published. It is followed later in the year by Photoplay.
• April 8: Winsor McCay releases his first film Little Nemo, one of the earliest animated films.
• October 23 (October 10 OS): Svetozar Botorić's The Life and Deeds of the Immortal Leader Karađorđe (Život i dela besmrtnog vožda Karađorđa, Живот и дела бесмртног вожда Карађорђа) premieres in Belgrade and becomes the first feature film made in Serbia and the Balkans.
• October 26: Defence of Sevastopol («Оборона Севастополя») premieres at the Crimean palace of Tsar Nicholas II and becomes the first feature-length film made in the Russian Empire and one of the first in the world. It is also the first known film to use a multiple-camera setup (2 cameras)
• October 27: David Horsley's Nestor Motion Picture Company opens the first motion picture studio in Hollywood.
• November: The Kalem Company of New York pays the estate of author Lew Wallace $25,000 in legal settlement for having adapted Ben Hur (1907 film) from his novel without securing prior rights.

United States unless stated

• Aerial Anarchists, directed by Walter R. Booth – (GB)
• Alkali Ike's Auto, directed by Broncho Billy Anderson

• Baron Munchausen's Dream (Les Hallucinations du baron de Münchausen), directed by Georges Méliès^[1] – (France)
• Baseball and Bloomers (lost), produced by the Thanhouser Company
• The Battle, directed by D. W. Griffith
• The Bells (lost), directed by W. J. Lincoln, based on the 1871 play by Leopold David Lewis^[2] – (Australia)
• Brown of Harvard, directed by Colin Campbell
• The Buddhist Priestess, produced by the Thanhouser Company

• Cally's Comet, produced by the Thanhouser Company
• The Coffin Ship, produced by the Thanhouser Company

• David Copperfield, directed by George O. Nichols, based on the 1850 novel by Charles Dickens^[3]
• Defence of Sevastopol, directed by Aleksandr Khanzhonkov and Vasily Goncharov^[4] – (Russia)
• The Diabolical Church Window (Le Vitrail diabolique) (incomplete), directed by Georges Méliès – (France)
• The Dream, directed by Thomas H. Ince and George Loane Tucker, starring Mary Pickford

• Enoch Arden, directed by D. W. Griffith

• The Fall of Troy (La caduta di Troia), directed by Giovanni Pastrone, based on the Greek epic poem the Iliad by Homer – (Italy)
• First Indy 500 (First year footage from the auto race. Filmed on May 30, 1911.)
• For Her Sake (lost), produced by the Thanhouser Company

• Her Crowning Glory, directed by Laurence Trimble
• His Trust, directed by D. W. Griffith
• His Trust Fulfilled, directed by D. W. Griffith
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Notre-Dame de Paris), directed by Albert Capellani, based on the 1833 novel by Victor Hugo^[5] – (France)

• L'Inferno (Dante's Inferno), directed by Francesco Bertolini and Giuseppe de Liguoro, based on the 14th-century narrative poem by Dante Alighieri^[6] – (Italy)

• The Last Drop of Water, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Blanche Sweet^[7]
• Little Nemo, directed by Winsor McCay
• The Lonedale Operator, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Blanche Sweet

• The Miser's Heart, directed by D. W. Griffith
• Der Müller und sein Kind (The Miller and His Child), directed by Walter Friedemann – (Austria)
• The Mummy (lost), produced by the Thanhouser Company^[8]

• The Odyssey (L'Odissea), directed by Francesco Bertolini and Giuseppe de Liguoro, based on the Greek epic poem by Homer – (Italy)

• The Pasha's Daughter, produced by the Thanhouser Company
• Princess Clementina, directed by William G.B. Barker – (GB)

• The Scarlet Letter, directed by Joseph W. Smiley and George Loane Tucker, starring King Baggot, based on the 1850 novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne
• She, directed by George Nichols, based on the 1887 novel by H. Rider Haggard^[9]
• A Spiritualistic Seance (Séance de spiritisme), directed by Léonce Perret^[10] – (France)
• Sweet Memories, directed by Thomas H. Ince, starring Mary Pickford and King Baggot
• Swords and Hearts, directed by D. W. Griffith

• A Tale of Two Cities, directed by Charles Kent, starring Norma Talmadge, based on the 1859 novel by Charles Dickens

• What Shall We Do with Our Old?, directed by D. W. Griffith

• January 5 – Jean-Pierre Aumont, actor (died 2001)
• January 7 – Butterfly McQueen, actress (died 1995)
• January 22 – Mary Hayley Bell, actress, writer and dramatist, wife of Sir John Mills (d 2005)
• January 30 – Hugh Marlowe, actor (died 1982)
• January 31 – Eddie Byrne, actor (died 1981)
• February 6 – Ronald Reagan, actor, United States President (died 2004)
• February 9 – Gypsy Rose Lee, actress and burlesque dancer (died 1970)
• February 14 – Florence Rice, actress (died 1974)
• February 19 – Merle Oberon, actress (died 1979)
• February 20 – Margot Grahame, actress (died 1982)
• March 3 – Jean Harlow, actress (died 1937)
• March 10 – Edward Norris, actor, (died 2002)
• March 18 – Smiley Burnette, actor, musician (died 1967)
• April 23 – Ronald Neame, cinematographer, producer and director (died 2010)
• May 7 – Ishirō Honda, director (died 1993)
• May 11
  • Louise Campbell, actress (died 1997)^[11]
  • Phil Silvers, actor (died 1985)
• May 17 – Maureen O'Sullivan, actress (died 1998)
• May 18 – Sigrid Gurie, actress (died 1969)
• May 23 - Bert Morrison, American actor, singer and jazz player (died 1995)
• May 27 – Vincent Price, actor (died 1993)
• May 30 – Douglas Fowley, actor (died 1998)
• June 1 – Gertrude Michael, actress (died 1964)
• June 3 – Ellen Corby, actress (died 1999)
• June 20 – Gail Patrick (died 1980)
• June 29 – Bernard Hermann, composer (died 1975)
• July 6 – Laverne Andrews, singer, actress, member of Andrews Sisters (died 1967)
• July 14 – Terry-Thomas, actor (died 1990)
• July 16 – Ginger Rogers, actress, dancer (died 1995)
• July 18 – Hume Cronyn, actor (died 2003)
• July 28 – Ann Doran, actress (died 2000)
• August 2 – Ann Dvorak, American actress (died 1979)
• August 3 – Alex McCrindle, British actor (died 1990)
• August 5 – Robert Taylor, actor (died 1969)
• August 6 – Lucille Ball, actress (died 1989)
• August 7 – Nicholas Ray, director (died 1979)
• August 12 – Cantinflas, actor (died 1993)
• August 19 – Constance Worth, actress (died 1963)
• September 2 – Erwin Hillier, cinematographer (died 2005)
• September 10 – Renée Simonot, actress and voice artist (died 2021)
• October 13 – Ashok Kumar, actor, India (died 2001)
• October 20 – Will Rogers, Jr., actor (died 1993)
• October 27 – Leif Erickson, actor (died 1986)
• October 30 – Ruth Hussey, actress (died 2005)
• October 31 – Sheila Bromley, actress, (died 2003)
• November 5
  • Roy Rogers, singer, actor (died 1998)
  • Baby Marie Osborne, child actress (died 2010)
• November 10 – Harry Andrews, actor (died 1989)
• December 8 – Lee J. Cobb, actor (died 1976)
• December 9 – Broderick Crawford, actor (died 1986)
• December 23 – James Gregory, actor (died 2002)
• December 29 – Claire Dodd, actress (died 1973)
• December 30 – Jeanette Nolan, actress (died 1998)

• January 18 – Arthur Marvin, cinematographer, (born 1859)
• May 29 – W. S. Gilbert, producer of musicals, half of the team of Gilbert and Sullivan, (born 1836)
• July 18 – Genevieve Lantelme, actress, (born 1883)
• August 11 – Verner Clarges, actor, (born 1846)
• October 27 – Francis Boggs, director, (born 1870)
• November 2 – Kyrle Bellew, actor, (born 1855)
• December 22 – Wright Lorimer, stage actor, screenwriter, (born 1874)
• Unknown – Woodville Latham, producer and exhibitor whose desire to shoot an entire boxing match on a single reel of film led to the invention of the Latham loop (born 1837)

• Lionel Barrymore – The Battle (*debatable; film debut much earlier)
• Francis X. Bushman – His Friend's Wife (short)
• Paul Kelly – Jimmie's Job (short)
• Edgar Kennedy – Brown of Harvard
• Ann Little – The Indian Maiden's Lesson (short)
• Harold Lockwood – The White Red Man (short)
• Anna Q. Nilsson – Molly Pitcher (short)
• Anita Stewart – A Tale of Two Cities as Anna Stewart
• Lenore Ulric – The First Man (1911 short)
• Lois Weber – director, actress, A Heroine of '76 (short); writer, On the Brink (short)

• List of 1911 films at IMDb
• List of 1911 deaths at IMDb
• List of 1911 births at IMDb